Page 13 of The Promised Prince
I stole his clothes! This was a mistake.
Maybe he didn’t want to play any games today. Maybe he was in a terrible mood and had just wanted a quiet swim to feel better.
But she was in too deep now. There was no way out.
With as much confidence as she could muster, Renna casually walked out from behind the tree. “It looks like it’s your turn to be rescued,” she said as she dangled his clothes from her finger.
He looked in her direction, and the same smile from yesterday returned.
The game was on.
He huffed. “I would hardly call this a situation where I need rescuing.”
Renna stepped closer. “Is that so? I guess I’ll just keep your clothes.” She shrugged, an innocent look on her face. “After all, I’m always looking for more boy clothes to swim in.”
He pushed his body out of the water and onto the dock, revealing muscles she had never known existed nor cared about until this moment. Feeling flustered by his bare chest and wet, clinging undershorts, she quickly walked forward and threw the clothes onto the dock, losing all her confidence from moments ago.
“Here you go!” She stumbled back onto the grass awkwardly, searching for somewhere else to look.
“Are you all right?” Amusement filled his tone.
“Yes! I’m fine! I just, um...” Why wasn’t there anything to look at? Or anything to say that didn’t make her seem like an idiot? She covered her eyes with one hand as she spoke. “You’re here, and I’m here, and you don’t have your clothes on, and you need your clothes...”
He snickered as she rambled on.
“Pants! Pants are important to have, and most men wear them, at least in front of me. And um...” She glanced from under the palm of her hand.
He still wasn’t dressed.
Instead, he stood on the dock, dripping wet, his blue eyes glimmering with amusement. “I had no idea my chest had such an effect on women.”
“It doesn’t,” she lied, determined to wipe his smug smile away. She lowered her hand to her hip, trying to regain some of her pride back. She was completely horrified by how ridiculous her actions must have seemed to him. “I thought I saw a snake and...I hate snakes.”
“It’s okay if you liked what you saw.” He shrugged, obviously not believing her.
Shedidlike what she saw. In fact, she highly doubted there was anything much better, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. She waved her hand flippantly. “I’ve seen dozens of men shirtless just this week, all of them with better-defined abs than you.”
There was his cute smile again, stretching from ear to ear. “Dozens of shirtless men, huh?”
Great! Now I sound sleazy!
He studied her. “What happened to you? Maybe you do need my clothes, after all.”
Renna sighed as she looked down. She had forgotten about the dried mud all over her dress and sleeves. She didn’t even recall smoothing her hair out this morning before she’d left her room. How she looked should have been the first thing she considered when she saw him. Instead, she stole his clothes.
She silently cursed herself for being so stupid. All she could think about now was how self-conscious she felt, no thanks to her mother’s too-small gray dress covered in mud stains.
“I tripped on my way here.” Another lie.
“I know how to clean your muddy dress,” he said with a growing smile. “You need to get it wet. Come swim with me.” He nodded to the water behind him.
“Right now?” Her eyes went wide.
“I thought you liked swimming.”
“I do, but I’m not swimming with you.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know you.”
“You can call me Trev,” he said, offering his hand out to shake.
